Learning Archer...

Hello Kaggers,

As all of you probably don't know, I'm starting to play archer. Having around 99% of my time spent in Kag as knight I really have no clue where to start. I have had a couple of people help me in-game (thank you), but would like to hear your tips / strategies to cell my learning process (and no I am not a complete noob at archer, I have mastered the basics). Anything helps!

Thanks guys

 

Learn how to use grapple effectively. Practice scaling walls, dodging knights and getting the flag back to base. After that you want to know how to stop getting shot by other archers, the grapple is highly effective however you are rendered useless just flying in whatever direction you are grappling in, instead try to track the arrows and dodge them while tracking the opposing archer as well.

Also, quick tip, your arrows can deal damage from half hearts through to 3 hearts, use this to your advantage. Archer on two hearts? Three arrow charge shot. Archer on one? Fill the charge circle 3/4 and shoot depending on distance. Knight with shield? Stomp + 3 Arrow charge shot. There are countless combinations but choose the one that is the quickest and least risky. Archers generally don't have crazy good k/d either, don't worry if you are going negative, staying alive is to priority. Help your team, stay alive, kill some dudes, have fun. Happy Archering.

 

You should check out the Classes & Mechanics > Archer board for some handy tips. There's also a couple guides there which are pretty out of date (they talk about Legolas rather Shotgun triple-shot), but they'll still be handy.

Otherwise, there's not really many 'advanced tactics' for archer like there are for knights (eg bombjumping); but if you do the basics well, you can be a nightmare for the other team. In general:
1. Always keep moving, or you'll be a super easy target. Archers are the most versatile class, thanks largely to the grappling hook + tree climbing, so use them.
2. Know when to be aggressive (scaling towers, attacking enemies), when to support (hang slightly back, make arrow ladders, shoot approaching knights), and when to retreat. Just don't constantly camp in your tower, or everyone will hate you and you'll be useless. Archers also make the best flag cappers, due to speed + bomb/fire arrows.
3. Get accurate. KAG arrows are a bit weird and tend to drop off a lot at the end of their flight. It takes a bit of getting used to, but can be used to your advantage. Make sure you can use half/quarter strength arrows as well as full power ones.

Special Arrows: Use water arrows when supporting your allies in fights or breaching an enemy wall, fire arrows to burn flammable buildings (try to wait until the builders have left) or kill enemy archers, and bomb arrows for breaching towers/flagrooms or destroying siege weapons (they're pretty useless at killing infantry other than archers, which aren't worth the 50 gold imo).

Soloing: Since you used to play knight, you know how other knights play, which will help you if you solo them; but try to avoid 1v1ing knights whenever possible. Most of the time, you will lose, since archers aren't built to solo knights. If you do find yourself in a position where you have to fight them, try to charge a Shotgun shot (which is the only reason knights fear most archers), or stun them and pump them full of arrows while staying just outside their range. If they pull out a bomb, you can either run like a bitch, suddenly change direction and run towards them (since they expect you to run like a bitch), or try to stun them (which usually kills you, but sometimes kills them too). If they throw it early, you can pick it up and throw it right back, which is always fun.
You'll still lose a lot, but nothing feels better than having a cocky knight sprinting at you and jabbing and just completely obliterating them.

Extra PSA: Always try to stop kegs, and always kill builders. Always. Your official duty as an archer is to kill the little shits whenever possible, especially offensive ones or tunnel rats at your base. Use whatever arrows you have and sacrifice yourself, just don't let them dig in.

This has been way longer than I intended, but I hope its useful. Good luck!

 

Thanks for all the helpful information, I primarily play archer in TDM, but I will defiantly use all the the tips you have me :D

 

Half charged shot do a full heart of damage
You can grapple and charge a shot/shoot an arrow all at the same time
Full charged arrows stun up close (use this for spacing/combo into stomp, boulder, etc)
Learn how to use your grapple to become a slippery mofo (depending on your playstyle)
Learn different kind of shot arcs (long, short, mid range, up, etc)
Start getting a good feel for knight hitboxes (they are insane)

I have only ever played archer so I got nothing on how the transition is lol.

 

As a general rule of thumb, you can learn most of the strategies mentioned above by watching pro'ish archers on TDM/CTF. Just go spectate for a couple of minutes, and see what they do in certain situation. The only real pieces of advice that I have are to use fully charged arrows [stun] and then follow up with a half-shot in archer 1v1's, and also master timing and distance/hitboxes.

 

What Neil said, watch other archers, read guides andpractice the hell out of it.

 

Thanks for all the great information guys, I am getting better :)

 

I fancy myself as a pro archer.

There are a lot of different skills to learn as the archer.

The fastest way to grapple up a wall, moving backwards whilst firing the grapple out to get huge speed forwards, spamming quarter power shots, etc. The list goes on and on.

The way I got good was by trying quite hard but not too hard and playing in real situations in CTF and naturally wanting to be able to do stuff on the battlefield to achieve the little goals there are inherently in that gamemode.

I seem to notice now that I tend to subconsciously be working on a new skill for about a month until I've mastered it and then something else will grab my attention and I will naturally choose to encorporate that into my game until I've mastered that.

The skill I'm currently seeming to work on is faking being killed - where I fall to the ground whilst dropping my arrows and then lay down - I have literally done this infront of many enemies and they shockingly most of the time just walk past not realising I'm still alive lol.

 

So gonna start working on this skill.

 

Take your arrows out of your inventory. There is nothing more suspicious than a dead archer with no arrows nearby.

 

Most people think you need to be able to accurately hit people. That's bullshit. First thing you need to learn, is how to properly dodge enemy fire.
You'll often get in situations where someone is camping behind a wall of platforms. If there's a knight, you'll want to use your grapple to put some distance between you and that archer, then lob some shots at the knight.
If you can dodge the arrows the archer is firing, you can probably stay away from that knight forever, if no one comes to help him. Eventually, you would win.
So, just try to get a rough idea of KAG's arrow trajectories. Then maybe try to learn how to grapple, or even how to launch yourself (jump in one direction, immediately grapple the other direction, jump and release)

 

Being able to move effectively is definitely the most important part of archer. In ctf you'll mostly be playing support, shooting at knights, sniping builders, using special arrows to create openings and taking care of other archers. It's not your job to kill every knight! Just get good damage and stay alive. In tdm its much the same. Unless you get left as the last one alive. Then you want to keep your distance and constantly be threatening a triple shot., but don't be afraid to shoot before hand if you think you can get the shot off. Some tricks that I've learned for 1v1s is that a good time to shoot is when they're going to glide over something as you can sneak an arrow under their shield. If they're shield surfing at you trying to get a shield bash then you can often time a jump and shoot down at them, stunning them. In general you don't want to start charging an arrows against a knight unless you have time to get to full charge. You can't afford to trade a slash with a 3/4 charged arrow. Grapple stomps are almost always a death wish, but if you get it off it is oh so sweet.

 

A small, but effective tip I have for you is that your death really means nothing or very little to the team. So use that as an opportunity to make great plays.
There have been many times that I'll just grapple around, jump and shoot within the enemies base to cause a distraction, if you do it right you'll get a bunch of scrubs following you around for a couple of minutes .
That can give your team a big number advantage if you play your cards right. Not only are you giving your team more of a opportunity to move up, but you're also being a massive pest towards the opposition. The more you improve, the longer you'll last.

 

Chaotic movement and unpredictable playstyle keeps you alive most of the time especialy against good archers. also use grapple to advance forward immediately after using grapple charge up so you can hit somone close range stunning the person and giving you time to finish the job. halfshot arrows are my favorite they deal 1 heart damage but it only takes half the time to shoot them. if you're good at those you can do alot of damage very fast. dont be intimidated by the knights if one goes at you charge up and stun him do this also in waterfights . if you miss you die :D. try and learn from other archers in ctf. tdm archer fights arent that good normaly.

 

Yeah, Dw I know how to do it.

On Topic:

As an archer, you basically don't go for kills. Try to rack up damage onto your enemies, pick off builders and make those pesky enemy archers keep their heads down (target them).
Learn the arrow distances (this thread gives a good guide https://forum.thd.vg/threads/first-post-archer-distances-shot-to-give-perfect-shots.23395/ ). Try to aim quickly and efficiently. Learn movement, grapple and flow of movement (no stopping, clipping blocks that slow you down etc).
Don't spam shotgun, its a waste of arrows unless used in the right situations (up close).
Most of all, DON'T DO STUPID THINGS. Move away from knights slashes, dodge arrows and just generally don't try to die. But remember, Deaths mean nothing.

 

Except when you have 3 bomb arrows. Then death means everything.

 

Split three bomb arrows over two or three archers, and they'll never take them all out before there's a hole in their tower. Carry them all, and you might just die and lose 150 coins.

EDIT: forgot to mention that three archer pressing "7" after a succesful blitz is just that much more infuriating for the enemy builders.